Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has proposed spending $556.4 million on social services in the 2013 budget, $9.6 million less than this year. The tax levy of $266.6 million covers 48 percent of the department budget, with most of the rest coming from state and federal aid.

Staffing in the Department of Social Services, the largest county department, is being cut from 1,107, including 30 people added during 2012, to 1,032.

Department officials went over the budget with the Board of Legislators Budget Committee Tuesday.

Many DSS programs are mandated but those that are not, particularly child care, continue to see cuts. The proposal would put in only slightly more than the available block grant funding for low income day care, which subsidizes families that make up to 200 percent of the poverty line. In past years the county put in millions in tax levy to keep more families in the program and allow them to pay a lower rate.

The department is estimating there will be 2,695 slots for children in the low income day care program at a cost of $18.7 million. That assumes parents will pay 35 percent of their income above the poverty line, a level DSS proposed for 2012 but has been unable to implement because of lawsuits by Democrats on the Board of Legislators. If Democrats want to restore the 20 percent level parents paid this year it will cost an extra $4.4 million, according to DSS estimates.

Title XX day care, which serves families up to 275 percent of poverty, will only be open to families transitioning out of low income day care as their incomes rise. Title XX funding is being cut from $953,000 to $499,000.

The department has protected child welfare staffing, officials said, and implemented programs to reduce the length of stay in foster care. The foster care caseload has gone from 918 children in 2007 to an estimated 600 in 2013. DSS is also working to improve customer service to people calling in.

DSS officials said they are concerned that if the federal budget goes off the fiscal cliff, or is a deal is struck that includes cuts, that block grants that fund DSS programs could be hit.

Astorino proposed his budget Nov. 14 and the Board of Legislators has scheduled public hearings for Thursday in Cortlandt and Dec. 5 in White Plains. The board will make additions to the budget on Monday and expects to vote by Dec. 10.